The Complete Guide to Converting Video to iPod Format (Mac)

For years, iTunes has provided a complete, one-stop solution for the migration of digital audio from the original media source (CD) to the iPod. In fact, one of Apple’s early slogans for its digital audio software was “Rip. Mix. Burn.,” a succinct catch phrase indicative of the simplicity that iTunes created.

Unfortunately, with the introduction of the fifth-generation iPod - the first that can play back various types of video - Apple doesn’t make it equally easy to prepare iPod-ready content. If you’re accustomed to the elegance of “Rip. Mix. Burn.,” you’ll find that the analogous tag line for the importing of video is more like:

Why? iTunes 6 doesn’t offer video conversion. Instead, you’ll need to find and learn to use software that doesn’t come in the box. Second, video conversion is generally a very time-consuming process, regardless of the software used. In this article, iLounge aims to remedy the former issue, though you’ll likely find that the latter issue will remain until you buy a new computer or piece of hardware optimized for video encoding.

Editor’s Note 1-17-06: The recently-released iTunes 6.0.2 does include video conversion to iPod format, rendering this article much less relevant for most casual users. However, this article remains authoritative and useful for users desiring more control over the video formats used. Read in detail about iTunes 6.0.2’s video conversion features here.

Today, iLounge has launched three tutorials to help you convert your videos to an iPod-viewable format. This piece deals with conversion of video files already on your computer. Another piece discusses conversion of DVDs - ones you are legally entitled to rip. And the last piece looks at the technicalities of the iPod’s video capabilities to help you make educated choices when you’re ready to convert videos or DVDs. It’s easy to just pick the iPod’s native 320x240 resolution and either H.264 or MPEG-4 encoding, but this last tutorial will explain why you might not want to do this. A separate article on PC video encoding and more will go up shortly.

Converting Existing Digital Video Files:

If we had published this tutorial immediately after the release of the iPod, we would not have been happy with what we had to say. At the time, very few pieces of video conversion software were available, and the most prominent - Apple’s own QuickTime Pro 7 ($29) - was extraordinarily slow at converting video, and significantly more expensive than we would have preferred.

Today, we have many more options to discuss, which happen to be cheaper, faster, more versatile, and, in some cases, easier to use than Apple’s QuickTime Pro. Four of them, in fact, are free.

The application icons in the graphic below are clickable links to their respective websites. Each option (save QuickTime Pro) is available for download and at least some period of trial use. If you don’t want to go with our recommended option (Podner), we encourage you to give each program a try, as you may find that one works better than the others for your existing video content, your computer, and your personal preference. Read on for a quick overview of each application’s abilities, and how to use them.

iSquint (Free, link) is a free utility designed to convert existing video files into iPod-ready MPEG-4 format. In our testing, we found iSquint to be fast and easy to use: a 2-minute MPEG-1 video clip took the same amount of time to convert on our test 1.5GHz Powerbook G4. This real-time encoding was roughly three times the speed of conversion as QuickTime Pro at the same task. iSquint features extremely easy-to-use controls (see screenshot below), can batch convert a folder of videos, and can also automatically add converted video files into iTunes once it has finished.

However, beware - iSquint is still in the beta stages of development, and we occasionally had encoding procedures go awry, with the resulting video and audio being horribly out of sync. Also, iSquint cannot yet let the user manually tweak technical details of the video formats, or convert video clips into H.264, though the features are on the developer’s to-do list.

MoviesForMyPod (Free, link), another free video conversion program, features both H.264 encoding and more control over the encoding process. Here also, the conversion process is simple. Select a file using the “Open File�? button, select your desired video format, and click “Convert to iPod video.�?

If you’d like to set additional options for MPEG-4 video such as bitrate or image resolution, select “MPEG-4 Custom…�? from the format pulldown menu:

We found MoviesForMyPod to be as fast as iSquint when converting MPEG-4 video, and 2 to 3 times faster than QuickTime at converting H.264 video. For comparison, this program does not add the completed file into iTunes.

Although Ollie’s iPod Converter (Free, link) is a very premature product (we couldn’t get it to work on many of our files), we’re intrigued by its supremely simple two-button interface. Simply “Choose�? your source file, and “Convert�? it!

If you’re looking for the easiest possible solution for converting video, and aren’t interested in maintaining detailed control in the conversion process, keep a close eye on this product in the near future, when the product becomes more reliable.

These three free options are indeed helpful for those on a tight budget, but for a small fee, we found software quality and reliability to increase dramatically. Despite its $10 price, Podner ($10, link) is currently our favorite video conversion solution. It has a beautiful, simple interface, and is fast and versatile. To begin with Podner, simply follow the basic directions seen below, dragging one or many video files into the hat.

Next, Podner will present you with more options. Select your iPod format (with either standard or custom settings), give the output file a Genre and Title, and upon hitting “Process,�? Podner will encode the file, title it, and place it into iTunes.

Furthermore, Podner allows you to designate a “Poster Frame�? for any converted video, which is the frame which appears in iTunes’ “Videos�? page as a static preview.

Another nice shareware option we found was Video2Pod ($10, link). While it doesn’t offer customization options nearly as powerful as Podner’s, it uses a different (and still very simple) interface.

Upon launch, Video2Pod presents you with an iTunes-esque view of video clips in your user directory’s “Movies�? folder, allowing for easy file selection and batch conversion.

To convert a file or a number of files, simply select them in the list, and click either the hard drive icon or iTunes icon to convert and save the videos to either a location on your hard drive, or the iTunes library, respectively. To customize your video conversion settings first, click the light switch.

Because of its price and other factors, we’ve avoided recommending Apple’s QuickTime Pro ($30, link) for iPod video conversion, but if you have other reasons to purchase it (full-screen video playback, exporting to other formats, converting iMovies, video editing, etc.), it may be worth it to you. In this case, use the following procedure to convert videos for the iPod:

After you’ve purchased QuickTime Pro and entered your registration information, open a file in QuickTime Player as if you were to play it:

Navigate to the “File�? menu and choose “Export…�?:

Choose either “Export Movie to iPod�? (which encodes in 320x240 H.264) or “Export to MPEG-4.�? Using the second option, you’ll need to manually configure the conversion to fall within the iPod’s specifications using the “Options�? button. Click “Save.�?

With these several software options now available, the conversion of existing video clips to iPod-compatible format is not terribly difficult, but you’ll find it remains time consuming. iLounge urges you to continue testing various software, video files, and video formats so that you can settle on a combination that works best for your setup. Good luck, and please post your experiences in the comments section below for the benefit of other readers!

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i downloaded moviesformyipod and it worked fine for a few videos (.mov and .mpg), but for some reason i have two videos w/ .mpeg that when converted do not have sound.

do you know how to fix this?

Posted by mdwsta4 in TX on November 28, 2005 at 12:13 PM (CST)

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Well done. This article nicely pulls together a lot of the emerging software out there.

I think some of the speed comments are misscharacterizations. In my experience QT is not significantly slower than any of the others. First, encoding H.264 is much slower than vanilla MPEG4, regardless of the encoder. I think some have a certain expectation based upon experience with MPEG4. Second, I’m pretty sure MoviesforMyPod and Podner, and probably the others, actually use the QT encoder. So how is it that they are so much faster? They’re not, at the same settings. It’s not possible for it to be faster, it’s the same codec, the same code. The difference lies in the encoding settings. For example, the ‘movie to iPod’ setting in QT uses a multi-pass encode whereas the default for Podner is single-pass. And of course the single pass finishes first, making it seem like Podner is faster. But you can set up QT to do a single pass and it will be just as fast or set Podner to do a multi-pass and it will be just as slow.

The interesting question here then is does one actually need to do things like a multi-pass encode to achieve acceptable results? That debate has been around a lot longer than the video iPod and I won’t rehash it all here. Given the small screen size on the iPod, it seems that in general you can get away with a single-pass and hence Podner’s popularity. However, if you are doing something like cranking down the bit rate to save disk space or concerned about video out playback quality, then a multipass might be worth it.

Finally, in defense of QT… There’s been plenty of people who say QT sucks, often without explanation. Allow me to be one who says QT doesn’t suck. It’s a fine software package if you know how to use it. Which is one of its problems, it’s not easy if you don’t know much about video. It’s not perfect, but IMO for what you get it’s worth the $29.

Posted by cicero1776 in TX on November 28, 2005 at 2:00 PM (CST)

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Just wanted to mention that if any of you have a PSP already, the videos you rip for that will work flawlessly on the iPod video. I use DVD Decrypter to rip my DVD, then use Xilisoft Video Converter to format for the PSP. Now I have a library I can share between devices…Macromedia just bought the rights to DVD Decrypter so if you don’t have it yet, find it soon. Not sure if these products are availalbe on the mac but I can format a 2 hour DVD to iPod/PSP format in about 90 minutes…..on an AMD 1800XP with a gig of RAM.

Posted by ratchet in TX on November 28, 2005 at 7:49 PM (CST)

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well this was a really helpful piece but i am still having difficulty. i have videos in my playlists and in files and such. i have extracted the files from all 3 free players. but now i’m lost and i don’t know what to do from there to convert my videos to be able to put them on the ipod. if anyone could tell me, it would be greatly appreciated. thanks

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For the guy with the busted .mpeg:

Mpeg means a lot of things to a lot of different people. It’s an expert group with a series of standards named after it, each consisting of different levels and styles of encoding. The extension .MPEG was supposed to be used JUST for the file format of mpeg-1 files, but because no better standard was suggested (and most mpeg2 decoders will read both) people use it for everything. I’m betting your busted .MPEG files are Mpeg-2 encodes 4:3 aspect 480x480 “SVCD” program stream files, because those are what all of mine are. Also, if i’m not mistaken, quicktime doesn’t have an mpeg-2 decoder by default (as there’s a patent on it, and the patent holder requires a license fee from all commercial mpeg-2 codecs)...

Posted by dasmegabyte in TX on November 29, 2005 at 4:44 PM (CST)

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another option for converting video to the ipod is ffmpegX. It’s shareware and seems to convert files, particularly H.264 faster than the other choices listed. http://homepage.mac.com/major4/
Also, I’ve found “poster frames” for videos can be added through iTunes. Select the video file, the go to “get info”, then click on “artwork” and drag whatever picture you want to serve as a poster frame to the area.

Posted by Starchilde in TX on December 4, 2005 at 8:15 PM (CST)

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i tried the MoviesForMyPod, it seems only taking mpg file to mp4 only.

Posted by eskee in TX on December 22, 2005 at 4:12 PM (CST)

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Does anyone know if there are there any versions of freeware converteres that will run on Windows XP? Thank you.

Posted by dbeeman in TX on December 31, 2005 at 12:42 AM (CST)

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interesting topic

but is it possible to have the same for PC users?! could be interesting too ...

Posted by .ben. in TX on January 12, 2006 at 6:57 AM (CST)

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I’ve been using MoviesForMyiPod for about a week now. I’ve used it to encode in both H.264 and MP4 formats without any problems. However, I tend to avoid making custon adjustments to the files and I stick to the factory defaults.

I’ve also used QuickTime to make the same conversions, and it takes forever… often more than 8 hours to convert a single 43 minute file into iPod format. I’m not sure why this is, but to be honest I don’t see a real difference in the quality of video that I get using either program, so I stick to MFMiP.

Posted by rogueprof in TX on January 17, 2006 at 9:56 AM (CST)

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I’ve got an h264 avi file - any ideas how to get that into iTunes/iPod? Podner won’t do it, iTunes won’t either, MPEG Streamclip won’t convert it… I know nothing about formats but assumed anything with h264 in it was okay :( Any ideas? Thanks in anticipation.

Posted by ipodbod in TX on April 11, 2006 at 6:19 PM (CDT)

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I’ve been ripping my DVDs using DVD Decrypter and converted my movies using Videora Converter (not mentioned in the article because it’s a PC program, for you guys looking for PC software) and have found that DVDs I rip and convert will not upload to my iPod- the upload will stop around the middle. Why? I don’t know. A message stating that there was an error appears whenever I try. So instead, I have to convert my DVDs chapter-by-chapter, which can be *very* annoying. Has anyone else experienced a similar problem?